Summary
The Avengers are to Marvel what the Justice League are to DC. They’ve changed members over the years, but they’ve always consisted of Marvel’s top superheroes, like Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, the Hulk, and more. They’re a formidable group that can rival or outdo Marvel’s other teams.
However, they’re not invincible. They’ve been brought down in one way or another before, be it by miscommunication, inter-team issues, grand schemes by their super villain of the week, or just by being overpowered. The Avengers bounce back, but these villains managed to add a victory to their record.
10Space Phantom
Avengers #2
It took the machinations of Loki to bring the original Avengers, and it took one alien stranger to almost break them apart. TheSpace Phantomis one of many beings who were trapped in Limbo and mutated by its effects. They usually ended up becoming servants of Immortus (one of Kang the Conqueror’s many forms), but one escaped and aimed to open the Earth up for invasion by taking out the Avengers.
He did this by shapeshifting into the Hulk and irking Iron Man until he started attacking the real Hulk. Then he became a bug to attack Wasp, before becoming Giant Man to fight Iron Man. He was defeated when he tried to copy Thor, only to find out his power didn’t work on Asgardians. Though he ends up back in Limbo, he succeeds in driving a wedge between the Hulk and the other Avengers.
9Hulk & Namor
Avengers #3
After the Hulk quit the team, the Avengers tried to find him to keep him out of trouble. With Rick Jones’ help, they were able to find him and turn him back into Bruce Banner. However, he Hulks back out and flees, trapping the Avengers in an empty train carriage. Then he meetsNamor, and the two form an alliance to take the Avengers out for good.
They fought on the Rock of Gibraltar, where Namor jammed Iron Man’s joints with dust. The Avengers ultimately won when Wasp cleaned Iron Man off with an oxygen tank, and Hulk’s attempts to lift Thor’s hammer tired him out enough to revert to Banner. But InWhat If the Avengers Had Never Been, the encounter ended withHulk and Namor turning on each other, and Iron Man sacrificing himself to keep the team going.
8Kang the Conqueror
Avengers #8
Ifthe MCU got more creative, people could’ve seen more ofKang the Conqueror. He’s one of Marvel Comics’ more slippery villains, as he’s taken on multiple forms: Rama-Tut, Immortus, the Scarlet Centurion, and more. But, after facing The Fantastic Four as Rama-Tut, he revealed his true self inAvengers #8.
He kept things simple by beating the Avengers, imprisoning them, and giving Earth 24 hours to submit to his rule or be destroyed. Only Rick Jones and the Wasp escaped his assault. Unable to beat Kang’s brawn, they used their brains by pretending to side with him, then freeing the Avengers once they got access to Kang’s ship. After another skirmish, Thor drove the Conqueror away.
7The Commissar
Avengers #18
The Avengers get a distress call from the Republic of Sin-Cong (a stand-in for Vietnam), asking the team to free them from their oppressive ruler,the Commissar. But when they arrive, they’re attacked by Sin-Cong’s troops, and the Scarlet Witch gets captured.
The call turns was a trap by the Commissar, who wanted to prove the might of Communism by beating the Avengers one by one. His divide-and-conquer approach was enough to put them all down, until the Scarlet Witch used her hex powers. She wasn’tthe walking WMD she would become later, but her abilities were enough to expose the Commissar as an android and finish him off.
6Doctor Doom
Avengers #25
The Avengers’ willingness to take things at face value was their undoing in many early stories. When the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver get a letter from their aunt inviting them to Latveria, they go with the Avengers, only to discover it was a trap devised byDoctor Doom. He thought that by defeating the team, he’d weaken the resolve of The Fantastic Four.
The other heroes couldn’t help them either, as their unlawful entry into the country could spark an international incident. The Avengers managed to escape captivity to fight the Doctor directly. But their combined might couldn’t beat him, nor could the Doctor get the upper hand by himself. He diverted their attention and escaped, leaving the Avengers to accept a stalemate.
5Attuma
Avengers #26-27
Hank Pym and the Wasp spot Namor heading towards New York, and think he might pose a threat. But as the Wasp heads to warn the Avengers, she’s captured by Namor’s arch-nemesisAttuma. She manages to send a mayday call to the Avengers, which doesn’t end up helping.
Attuma’s forces divide the Avengers and defeat them individually, leaving Attuma open to flood the surface world with his wave machine. Their only hope lies with Hawkeye who, after figuring out Tony Stark’s subliminal reader, finds his fallen comrades. With Quicksilver’s help, they defeat Attuma and destroy his wave machine.
4Magneto & Quicksilver
Avengers #47-49
BeforeQuicksilverand Scarlet Witch learnedMagnetowas their father, they were part of hisBrotherhood of Evil Mutants. They disbanded when Magneto was abducted by the Stranger, and the siblings joined the Avengers to atone. Once the Master of Magnetism broke free from the Stranger’s realm, he captured his former allies to turn them to his side again.
At first, Quicksilver pretended to go along with Magneto’s plan to attack the United Nations, only to return to the Avengers and take him down. But things took a turn when the two sides clashed, and Scarlet Witch was shot in the crossfire. Driven into a rage, Quicksilver spurned his former allies and took Witch away to join Magneto for good.
3Ultron & The Masters of Evil
Avengers #54-55
Whether it was from trickery, or their own internal issues, the Avengers could be their own worst enemies. They come undone inAvengers #54when the Crimson Cowl forms a newMasters of Evilgroup to fight the team.
After beating them, the Cowl revealed himself to be Jarvis, Iron Man’s faithful butler, making them think they had been betrayed as they were strapped to rockets. But things took a turn when Jarvis' robot double turned out to beUltron,Hank Pym and Tony Stark’s rogue AIwho hypnotized Jarvis into doing his bidding. If it weren’t for him undoing the hypnotism, and the timely intervention of Black Knight, the Avengers might have been done for.
2M’Baku
Avengers #62
The Avengers bounced back from losing Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch by gaining Black Panther, who helped them stop Ultron and the Masters of Evil. However, he inadvertently led them to a less-than-warm welcome in Wakanda when its troops opened fire on them. The interim leader,M’Baku, passed it off as a mistake and invited them to dinner, which they found out too late was drugged, leaving them imprisoned.
Accusing Black Panther of selling out, M’Baku tries to take over Wakanda under the name Man-Ape. Panther almost beats him in a one-on-one battle, only to end up caught in his elaborate death trap, where he is pinned beneath a statue that is ready to topple onto him. It takes Vision smashing through his prison walls to turn it against M’Baku and save Panther.
1Thanos
Infinity Gauntlet #4
The Avengers’ most famous defeat was at the hands ofThanos, the Mad Titan. In the MCU, they couldn’t stop him assembling the Infinity Gauntlet and snapping away half of all life in the universe. In the originalInfinity Gauntletstory, he was trying to woo Death by assembling the gauntlet, with her rejections angering him into his 50/50-based universal genocide.
The Silver Surfer, Doctor Strange, and Adam Warlock led the Avengers, ostensibly to act as a distraction while they tried to steal the gauntlet. Instead, Thanos killed off their forces with little to no fuss. The only reason Thanos lost in the end was his hubris, as he inadvertently left the gauntlet in his ‘granddaughter’ Nebula’s hands, forcing him to work with Warlock and Strange to undo his damage.
